Lesley Papper

I am a qualified Integrative Therapeutic Counsellor and a member of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists.  I offer a warm, accepting, and confidential space to individuals wishing to explore, and work to resolve their difficulties around their relationship with food. 

We are all unique, and respond to life’s challenges in different ways.  Sometimes, when these challenges become too hard, we may turn to coping strategies which prove to be to the detriment of our own well-being.   Even when we know this to be true, it can be tough breaking free of negative patterns of behaviour that essentially have been helping us to cope.  However, I firmly believe that we possess both the inherent drive, and the resources to find our way through these difficulties.    

I understand the urgency of wanting to affect change sooner rather than later, and I believe in working with you to identify your immediate concerns and your longer-term goals.   Additionally, it can be of great value to explore your individual lived experience, together we may decide to look at where the difficulties with food originated in order to better understand your emotional world and your thoughts and behaviours in the here and now.  I will support you on this journey.

I encourage self-acceptance, and self-care, as a foundation.  Within the healing unit of the therapeutic relationship, I invite clients to take stock of their lives and look upon themselves with kindness.   I offer a safe space where past and present experiences and current worries and fears can be expressed and explored.  With gentle but dynamic resolve we can look at triggers and patterns, and target unhelpful thoughts and behaviours with the aim of taking positive steps towards a healthier, happier future.

I have worked with clients living with grief, low mood, depression, anxiety, and survivors of sexual violence.  I have also worked with clients with hidden disabilities, physical disabilities, as well as have experience with clients living with the long-term fall-out of bi-polar, ADHD, and dyslexia in terms of disrupted education and unmet needs.

I offer short term or longer-term therapy and work at your pace and with your agenda.  My emphasis is on helping you to build resilience and structure, with the aim of achieving freedom from habitual negative patterns and bringing about lasting therapeutic change.

• AIM Level 3 in Counselling Skills
• CPCAB Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling
• Diploma in CBT
• Diploma in Eating Psychology
• Diploma in Grief and Bereavement Counselling
• Certificate in Trauma and the Body
• Certificate in Working with Relational Trauma
• Certificate in Dealing with Distress, Suicide and Self-Harm